HomeGroupsTalkMoreZeitgeist
Search Site
This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and (if not signed in) for advertising. By using LibraryThing you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your use of the site and services is subject to these policies and terms.

Results from Google Books

Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.

Ways of Dying by Zakes Mda
Loading...

Ways of Dying (original 1995; edition 2002)

by Zakes Mda

Series: Toloki (1)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
2253118,865 (3.73)15
An acclaimed novel by a leading South African author. It is the story of a professional mourner, whose odyssey takes him from a rural village to the outskirts of a contemporary South African city. It is magical, harsh, and funny. The style of writing is new and exciting, using transliteration for example.… (more)
Member:amyem58
Title:Ways of Dying
Authors:Zakes Mda
Info:Picador (2002), Edition: 1st, Paperback, 224 pages
Collections:Your library, Read
Rating:
Tags:2020 book challenge, summer reading challenge 2020

Work Information

Ways of Dying by Zakes Mda (1995)

Loading...

Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.

No current Talk conversations about this book.

» See also 15 mentions

English (2)  Dutch (1)  All languages (3)
Showing 2 of 2
32/2021. This is a novel set in an unnamed city on the coast of South Africa, presumably based on Cape Town, in 1993-4, shortly before the transition to inclusive democracy. The protagonist is a professional mourner who meets a woman from his home village at the funeral of her son in the city about twenty years after he last saw her. Unusually the story has a third person plural narrator, a collective "we", the people of the city and the village who have individually witnessed events but are recounting them from a communal perspective (I think this is a nod towards collective oral traditions of narrative and also omniscient ancestors). Most published fiction of around 200 pages is stripped to essentials but this novel is full of the telling small details of ordinary people's lives.

The usual "ways of dying" for each age group - accidents, violence, and illness - occur as natural events in various characters' lives. The average age of death in South Africa was falling from a high of 63 in 1991 to only 53 in 2004 (the lowest since 1972, although by 2020 it had returned to 64) but people continue on with daily life: they grow up, go to school, work, form relationships, have children, and care for families. The story ought to be depressing but, despite being confronted with the inevitability of all our demises, I found it life-affirming. After all, each day means more when we understand we have so little time on this earth, and the saddest way of dying is giving up on life while you're still alive.

Those who profit from death: professional mourners, authors who make art about death, those who make money out of the business of death, and politicians.

Quotes

Sorry, but I collect tripe quotations: "The Archbishop earned his living during the week by selling tripe and other innards of animals in a trunk fastened to the carrier of his bicycle. He rode from one homestead to another through the village, shouting, 'Mala mogodu! Amathumbo!' in his godly baritone. This simply meant that he was touting his offal, encouraging people to buy."

Audiences on art: "As usual, they cannot say what the meaning is. It is not even necessary to say, or even to know, what the meaning is. It is enough only to know that there is a meaning, and it is a profound one." ( )
  spiralsheep | Feb 16, 2021 |
The style is very unusual and I really enjoy it. The voice speaking changes, there is a magical and unreal quality at times, then the reality comes in. Beautifully written and very evocative.
  amyem58 | Aug 10, 2020 |
Showing 2 of 2
no reviews | add a review

» Add other authors

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Zakes Mdaprimary authorall editionscalculated
Gutierrez, RudyCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed

Belongs to Series

Toloki (1)

Belongs to Publisher Series

You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Canonical title
Original title
Alternative titles
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Related movies
Epigraph
Dedication
First words
'There are many ways of dying!', the Nurse shouts at us. Pain is etched in his voice and rage has mapped his face.
Quotations
The Archbishop earned his living during the week by selling tripe and other innards of animals in a trunk fastened to the carrier of his bicycle. He rode from one homestead to another through the village, shouting, 'Mala mogodu! Amathumbo!' in his godly baritone. This simply meant that he was touting his offal, encouraging people to buy.
Last words
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Original language
Canonical DDC/MDS
Canonical LCC

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English (1)

An acclaimed novel by a leading South African author. It is the story of a professional mourner, whose odyssey takes him from a rural village to the outskirts of a contemporary South African city. It is magical, harsh, and funny. The style of writing is new and exciting, using transliteration for example.

No library descriptions found.

Book description
Haiku summary

Current Discussions

None

Popular covers

Quick Links

Rating

Average: (3.73)
0.5
1 2
1.5
2 2
2.5
3 7
3.5 1
4 10
4.5
5 9

Is this you?

Become a LibraryThing Author.

 

About | Contact | Privacy/Terms | Help/FAQs | Blog | Store | APIs | TinyCat | Legacy Libraries | Early Reviewers | Common Knowledge | 203,213,149 books! | Top bar: Always visible